How About Making Your Own Souvenir in Daegu?

Most trips end with the same question: What should I bring home? You could pick up something from a souvenir shop, but in Daegu, there’s another option — make it yourself.

Around the city, small independent studios are working with ceramics, glass, silver, wood, and leather. Spend an afternoon with a local maker, learn how each material is shaped, and create something that carries a little more of your trip than another souvenir picked from a shelf.

Here are five ways to make your own Daegu memory!

📢 BEFORE YOU GO

A Few Things Are Changing in Gyeongju

Planning a heritage trip to Gyeongju? Check your route before you leave, as several major attractions have temporary closures or restoration work scheduled this season.

Bulguksa Temple is entering a period of major restoration work, including work around Daeungjeon Hall. Meanwhile, parts of the Hwangnyongsa Temple Site are restricted due to maintenance, and the Hwangnyongsa History & Culture Center is temporarily closed until November 20.

The Gyeongju National Museum also has partial gallery closures scheduled for September 14 and 16. Heritage sites in Korea can occasionally change access because of restoration, weather, or special schedules, so check the official website before visiting.

✨ 5 CRAFT STUDIOS TO TRY IN DAEGU

01. What If Your Daegu Souvenir Started as a Piece of Clay?

|  CERAMIC — SAIE POTTERY 
📍 1F, 102 Bukseong-ro, Jung-gu, Daegu

Hidden in Bukseong-ro, one of Daegu’s older downtown neighborhoods, Saie Pottery is an independent ceramic studio founded in 2015 and run by a mother-and-daughter duo. Rather than focusing on a single style, the studio experiments with different ceramic techniques through its main label and smaller collections.

Look closely at the pieces and you’ll find hand-built forms, wheel-thrown ceramics, painted surfaces, and even wood-fired pieces. Some collections mix different colored clays to create one-of-a-kind patterns, so the small imperfections and variations are intentionally part of what makes each object different.

WANTRIP PICK — Don’t come to Bukseong-ro just for the pottery. Take some time to explore the surrounding old downtown streets, where workshops and older buildings still remain between newer cafés and creative spaces. It’s a good place to see a side of Daegu that feels very different from Dongseong-ro.

02. Ever Seen Your Souvenir Change With the Light?

|  GLASS — ANEUK GLASS
📍 2F, 42-1 Gyeongdae-ro, Dong-gu, Daeg